The present invention relates to a device for broiling hot dogs and the like over an open fire, and in particular to an arrangement for detachably mounting food retaining baskets to a rod portion of the broiler.
Cookers have been developed for broiling or roasting certain types of elongate food articles, such as hot dogs, sausage, weiners, ears of corn, and the like. Manually operated cookers are generally used for broiling such food articles over an open fire, and are typically used for camping, picnics, and other similar occasions.
Some types of broilers, such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,804,819 and 2,136,658, comprise an elongate rod, having a handle at one end, and one or more food retaining baskets attached to the opposite end of the rod. Heretofore, the baskets have been permanently and rigidly attached to the rod by welds or other similar connecting means. This type of attachment arrangement is rather expensive to manufacture, and cannot be easily repaired.
One aspect of the present invention is to provide a hot dog broiler, having means for detachably connecting food retaining baskets with an associated end of a support rod. The attachment arrangement comprises providing laterally extending support wires at both ends of each basket, and bending the free ends of each support wire into an eyelet, shaped to closely receive the rod therethrough. The rod end opposite the handle is threaded, and adapted to receive a pair of nuts thereon. The eyelets at the open ends of the baskets are threaded onto the rod over the threaded end thereof. A first nut is secured to the threaded end of the rod, and the eyelets at the closed ends of the baskets are then positioned over the threaded end of the rod. A second nut is then attached to the terminal end of the rod and tightened against the first nut, so that the eyelets are securely locked in place against each other in a sandwiched fashion between the nuts, thereby detachably connecting the baskets with the rod.
The principal objects of the present invention are to provide a basket attachment arrangement which reduces assembly time, difficulty and cost. The broiler design is modular, so that the same component parts can be used to construct broilers having one, two, three, four, or more baskets. The basket attachment arrangement is quite uncomplicated, does not require any special tools, and is designed so that bent or damaged baskets can be easily replaced by the user. The open ends of the baskets are not rigidly attached to the support rod, so that when struck, the baskets will vibrate vigorously to remove encrusted material, and other foreign substances from the baskets. The broiler is economical to manufacture, capable of a long operating life, and particularly well adapted for the proposed use.
These and other features, advantages, and objects of the present invention will be further understood and appreciated by those skilled in the art by reference to the following written specification, claims, and appended drawings.